Before Making Your Offer (or Filling Our Your Rental Application)Take this list with you when looking for houses. The neighborhood form will be important. There are over 100 questions, so you may want to circle the ones most important to you.

Contingency periodMost real estate contracts have a period in which potential buyers have an opportunity to ask questions. During that time, if the buyers don't like the answers to questions, they can cancel the contract with no financial penalties or renegotiate the price.

During the contingency period, you ask the seller or person most knowledgeable to fill out the questions. Some of the questions will be obvious to you so that the seller will not have to fill them out, some will not. For example, you can determine if a floor is stone or wood, but not if it is engineered or solid.

Q&A

Q. How will this form help me to know what the builder used in the home and if anything is toxic?

A. The form asks detailed questions about materials and methods which we've found to cause properties to be most toxic to inhabitants. The feedback that we've received is that it helps prospective buyers and renters to think of things that they would not have and quickly determine if a house is suitable.

Q. Does it ask questions about all environmental toxins?

A.It covers many of the most toxic products over which you have control. Additionally it asks question about the neighborhood to help you determine if you will be adversely effected by neighboring toxic projects.

Q. I'm interested in buying new construction. Won't that be the least toxic since the materials are new?

A. No, if they have already done the finish work (paint, flooring etc.), then it is highly unlikely that the property will qualify for a SaferBuilding™ Certification. If they haven't done the finish work, then ask them to do the finishes using the SaferBuilding materials and methods. First have the environmental disclosures forms filled out to make sure that the neighborhood is right, etc.

Generally, when people buy houses, they can see the colors, the fixtures, the layout,
the room size and other important features. Then during the escrow process people have contractors check
plumbing, electrical, roof, and other important features. What is notably missing is information about toxic residue.

A buyer should want to know what toxic residue remains on a property, how difficult it is to get out,
or what toxic residue problems may be likely to arise.

SaferBuilding™ Environmental Disclosure Forms help buyers to understand and effectively manage their purchase.

Does if affect the price?

Our experience says "Yes".

If a non-smoker walked into a house which smelled of smoke and a similar house with no such residue,
then surely the smoke-free house would be more valuable to him or her. Smoke residue is among the issues noted in a
SaferBuilding™ Environmental Disclosure Forms. Unlike smoke residue which has an odor, many toxins do not have a detectable odor
even though they have the potential to cause a lot of harm. For the possibility of those residues, it is important to use
SaferBuilding™ Environmental Disclosures before you move in.

If in two identical properties, someone sprayed pesticides whenever they saw ants; but in a second property,
the homeowner had taken the time to caulk (with a non-toxic caulk or perhaps used boric acid, then it is likely that the
latter property would have less toxic residue. One would expect increased value would be obvious if the buyers knew that
fewer toxins had been used. In fact, SaferBuilding™ certified properties have seen increased values of 7% to 10%.

By using the SaferBuilding™ Certifications, sellers have an easy way to note absence of toxic residue
and have the prospect of claiming increased property value.

Why not simply just tell them?

Environmental residue is complicated issue. Even with the hundred or so questions in the
SaferBuilding™ Disclosure Forms, there are still hundreds more that might be asked, such as would a house with an attached
garage allow more fumes to enter the house than a detached garage? Of course, there are advantages of having an attached garage.

Does it matter if buyers don't care about toxic residue?

Perhaps. A buyer can't tell if a floor is veneer, engineered, or solid. Even if you don't care at
the time or purchase, you will likely care when you need to refinish the floor ten years down the road.